SATURDAY SURVEY

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The concerns over the lack of offense continue with the Detroit Tigers, most noticeably when they were recently shut out in 2 straight games by the Miami Marlins pitchers, ranked as having the worst pitching staff in MLB.

Statistically, the Tigers have baseball’s 4th best pitching roster.  But in 43 games, the starting pitchers have only 7 wins among 6 SPs.  Most of them due to lack of run support.

Reese Olson is pitching at an elite level and has yet to get a win.  Jack Flaherty pitched a 2-hit shutout and struck out 14 batters in one game, tying Max Scherzer’s record.  He failed to get the win because his teammates couldn’t score.  He is also among the top 5 pitchers this year in strikeouts.  His record is 0-3 (through Thursday’s games).

The Tigers have indicated that because of their young lineup, there was a concerted effort to fortify their pitching staff in order to help keep the team in games.  However, we’re now regularly seeing stellar pitching performances go unrewarded and wasted.

Currently, the Tigers have 8 rookie/inexperienced hitters in their lineups and 2 who are experienced but under-performing.  There are 7 players overall who have decent offensive numbers.  Positionally, the Tigers have dependable hitters at only 3 positions.

The off-season was known as the weakest free agency market in years for offensively-solid players.  The Tigers stated that signing just one would not have helped to the level needed.  As well, they explained that they needed to focus on seeing what a number of rookies/inexperienced players could do.

The Tigers’ batters comprise MLB’s 5th youngest group (but just barely missing #4).  There is a direct connection to youth and lower offensive numbers.

What do you think of the Tigers’ strategy of having younger batters and trying to compensate for their lack of offense by bolstering their pitching?

Make sure to come back and check the final results!

Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to a maximum of 3 sentences and must address the day’s topic. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page in order for your comments to be published.

THE BEST COMMENT FROM YESTERDAY’S BLOG:

from Andy – “Another coach who has created an outstanding track record is Gabe Alvarez, manager of the AA Erie Seawolves. The Seawolves are 21-13 and might be sporting some future major leaguers—Jackson Jobe (1.02 WHIP with 24 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched), Gage Workman (OPS of .846), Carlos Mendoza (OPS of .950), Hao-Yu Lee (OPS of .735 and is 21 years old). In a season with a dearth of hitting by the Tigers, we have some Seawolves chomping at the bit.”

FINAL RESULTS FROM A MAY TOTALLY TIGERS POLL:

Who will become the Tigers #2 starting pitcher?

  • Casey Mize or Reese Olson  60%      
  • It will be a prospect still in the minors.  22%      
  • He will be a free agent or acquired via trade.  18%  

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12 thoughts on “SATURDAY SURVEY”

  1. At the rate they’re going by the time the young hitters start hitting the pitcher’s contracts will be up. Now they’re back to square one. Got the hitters but no pitching because by then to keep this #4 or above pitching staff C.I is going to have to open up the pocket book.

    Liked by 4 people

  2. I said that it couldn’t be helped. They need more than a bat to fix this offense and few were available. It will take an available FA or two that is younger and a better fit and more development of the current young hitters.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. You can’t win if you can’t score. Getting close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. If you just want to go with young hitters, a losing recipe, don’t waste your money on veteran pitchers.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. The strategy may have been the best of the three options as there was little talent to trade. As has been observed, players may hit well in the minors because they face weak pitching but are really befuddled at the major league level. The big question is whether they develop improved hitting skills after several seasons of confidence deflating poor performance at bat.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Al Avila’s strategy was to go with pitching and the pitching staff is largely his creation (I know it was all Fetter and Avila should get no credit). If Baez, Torkelson, Meadows, Campos, Dingler, etc had met expectations, we would be a very competetive team right now. There is a shortage of hitting in the game overall, but even with that, the Tigers hitting is worse than other teams.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I went with “ The Strategy couldn’t be helped”, although I’m not onboard 100% with that. I and the majority of the Toledo Braintrust are reminding ourselves not to get too excited about this year’s results for the Mud Hens parent company just because of that strategy. They are not going to win any championships again this year , so we’ll just enjoy the positives , and like Chris I, save our money until another year.

    Liked by 5 people

  7. I don’t think it is a great strategy. There needs to be a mix. If there is a FA hitter out there who was worthy of a 4 or 5-year contract, then they should have gone out and signed him.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. given the current climate of the game Thier choices are limited by the environment of it being a pitchers era. Sometimes when there’s no good choices it’s best not to make a bad one and wait for another day.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. I like the current strategy, which finally produced a 4-hit game by Colt Keith and 5 RBIs by Javier Baez. The remaining 3/4 of the season should see better hitting. The 2 shutouts showed Tiger hitting bottoming out.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Having to depend on unproven (@ the MLB level) young hitters is no way to go about trying to be competitive & should have been addressed in the off season instead of buying a new jet, a total make over of the clubhouse, scoreboard..ect, this $ should have been spent on improving the hitting.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. I was under the impression that the Tiger strategy was to draft pitchers then, as they developed, trade them for experienced offensive, everyday players. Drafting Mize, Manning, Turnbull, Faedo, Wheatland, Burroughs et al, would someday bring quality hitters to Detroit. Question is; to quality hitters want to play in Comerica?

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